2013 State of the Plant Reports: Wastestreams and Minimization ProgressIn 2013, waste minimization has made great progress in certain areas, but our findings show "low hanging" wastestreams have received the most attention from plants, leaving more difficult challenges ahead. while plants feel they are making progress toward waste goals, it is really a "feeling" at this point, as a large proportion do not have plans or benchmarks in place to compare to,

The Waste Minimization Forum (wastemin.com) conducted research with 304 leading plants across the US and found the following:

Feelings on how the plant is progressing in waste reduction programs

How would you rate yourself compared to other companies in your progress to reduce waste?
We're Behind: 11%
On Pace: 53%
We're Ahead: 36%​

BUT... it is unclear how plants compare themselves to others, because more than a third of plants do not currently have ANY waste minimization plan in place​

Hazardous materials were near the bottom of wastestreams FIRST targeted for reduction, BUT chemical substitution is near the TOP of projects plants are planning to take on in the near future.
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Current and Future Waste Minimization Projects

Current projects: Plants began their efforts with the "easier to handle" projects...
Scrap metal: 93% currently recycling, 1% planning to begin
Paper and Cardboard: 90% currently recycling, 5% planning to begin
Batteries and Electronics: 87% currently recycling, 7% planning to begin
Oils and Coolants: 84% currently recycling, 4% planning to begin
Bottles and Cans: 82% currently recycling, 7% planning to begin

Future projects: ...leaving them with the more difficult projects to tame next.
Chemical Substitution: 44% currently have program, 19% planning to begin
Absorbent Recycling: 29% currently recycling, 25% planning to begin
Rental Rag Reduction: 44% currently have program, 8% planning to begin
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The good news: Right now, the wastestreams plants have chosen to focus on first are the largest by tonnage, and some of the fastest ROI.The other good news: The projects plants have next in line, such as chemical substitution and hazwaste reduction are going to be tougher to tame, BUT: thesese tough projects will pay off in many important ways:

Lower disposal costs

Reduced safety risk

Lower regulatory influence

Less paperwork and time

Reduced environmental risk to community

Fewer things to keep you awake at night

In the coming months, The Waste Minimization Forum will begin a project to help plants understand the financial savings of chemical substitution and hazwaste reduction programs. Stay tuned.
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So what can this mean to my bottom line?

Let's use the fine state of Ohio as an example:
In 2009, the industrial sites in Ohio recycled or reclaimed $1,391,260,320 worth of scrap steel and $105,174,400 worth of cardbaord
That averages out to $37,410 worth of scrap steel and cardboard value PER YEAR for EVERY industrial site in OhioEven if plants in Ohio were recycling 90% of these materials, it still means they would be throwing away $150 MILLION in steel and cardboard scrap EVERY YEAR.
So, yes, there is real money to be saved by minimizing waste. (data sources "2009 Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling Statistics, epa.ohio.gov and 2010 Census data)
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In summary: Plants don't need to be perfect, they just need to get started.

Even the most experiences plants are constantly finding ways to make their waste min programs lower waste and higher ROI. We have seen time and time again that one of the fastest ways to jumpstart ANY program is by implementing Best Practices and sharing real experiences between plants. That's why we created the Waste Minimization Forum.​